Hey guys, this is Tracy. If at any time you'd
like to connect with HCV, go to hcv .church forward
slash connect. If you feel called to give, go
to hcv .church forward slash give. And if at
any time you feel called to make a change in
your life, text change me to 970 -00. Enjoy the
message. Hey, good morning, everyone. Everyone's
favorite, Mr. Rick, right? Bringing you the Gen
Z report. If you're joining us from home, thank
you for welcoming us into your space. Hey, just
a couple things I want to challenge you with.
I just checked the board. As Mr. Rick was saying,
we have 14 spots to fill. That's it. So 14 spots.
Remember, our goal. It's one week of 24 -7 prayer
where for every hour for an entire week, we're
praying for our community of faith. We're praying
for our local community, the nation, the world.
I saw one person that had signed up. They put
online, hey, I'm going to be praying an hour
for 24 -7. Do you have any requests? And people
are putting requests into her message box, and
she's going to be praying for them. So just sign
up. We have 14 spots left. If you still want
to do it and there's a spot taken, Partner with
somebody and come with them and pray together.
Now, if you signed up and you did not get an
email from Rudy, that means you're not in our
system. He sent an email, either it was yesterday
or this morning, to everybody that signed up.
So check your emails. If you didn't get that,
it gives you details of how to get in, what to
unlock, your code, all those things. And if you
didn't get that email, see him today. And it's
very important. Last year, we overwhelmed Turner
Skate Palace for our skate night. We had hundreds
of people show up, which is a good thing. So
now we want hundreds of people to show up at
two different time slots. So get your ticket
to be a part of the family skate night at the
Welcome Hub. Now, I normally don't do this, but
because of the direction that I feel God leading
this gathering, I'm going to share the words
of knowledge right now. Okay, that way if you
hear them and you think, oh, that's me, their
prayer team will be up here at the end of the
gathering to pray for you. And you'll understand
why I'm doing it now in a little bit. So you
have a painful big toe. You have an injured or
damaged ear. You have left elbow pain. You have
pain in the jaw or teeth that moves into the
ear. Right wrist joint. is painful you have complications
with your intestines it's causing dull pain in
your stomach and you have pain associated with
shingles so if any of those are you at the end
of this gathering we will pray for you and believe
that god wants to heal for heal you now as i
was praying for our sunday gatherings this week
listen my spirit was full of expectation for
what god wanted to do in and through us today
so i'm going to pause i'm going to invite the
holy spirit to come silence distractions Because
I want you to be all in on this word. Holy Spirit,
come. Speak to us, God. We are listening. God,
we silence distractions in Jesus' name. Open
our minds, ears, and hearts to receive all that
you have for us. God, transform us. Amen. So
listen, I want to remind you this talk is for
you. It's not for your neighbor. It's not for
your spouse. It's not for the people in front
of you. This talk is for you and me. See, God
wants to give us a fresh vision for this new
year that I believe will transform our daily
routines, our daily schedules into abundant encounters
with the living God. But for that to take place,
we need a fresh vision for our lives. We need
a fresh encounter with God that will set our
hearts on fire. for all that he's called us to
do. Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing
at an early age, distinguished between physical
sight and inner vision by saying this, the only
thing worse than being blind is having sight
but no vision. Having sight but no vision. I
believe that's a wake -up call to the church.
It's a challenge for us to wake up and live lives
with purpose and meaning. Now, I've noticed every
single week you turn in prayer requests. And
as a community of faith, we love it when you
do that. We've got a team full of people who
are called to pray over those requests every
single week. But here's what I've noticed. Week
after week, most of the time, people have prayer
requests for things directly impacting them or
their loved ones. It's, God, I need a breakthrough
in my finances. God, would you heal my grandmother?
Would you? Help me get into this dream school.
God, would you help me find a job? I need a job,
God. Would you lead me in a decision I need to
make? I need you, God. And listen, we should
absolutely continue to pray those prayers. But
instead of just praying, God, would you do this
or do that for me? A dangerous way to pray is,
God, what can I do for you? God, what can I do
for you? Not just God bless me, keep me safe,
but God I'm your servant. And I'm available for
whatever you want me to do. Now this prayer is
called the prayer of availability. And I believe
this will be a foundational talk for many of
you. And some of you think, well what's a foundational
talk? Well over the course of your lifetime,
I believe if you're in a relationship with Jesus,
there will be certain messages or talks. that
when you hear them, you encounter God in such
a way it literally changes the trajectory of
your life. Changes what you do. You'll say, before
that moment, I remember it, I was bored. I was
stuck. I was going through a routine. Fill in
the blank. But when I heard that message, God
spoke to me, and my life has never been the same.
I believe that's what today is. The prayer of
availability is a dangerous prayer. And when
you pray this prayer, God could move you in a
lot of different ways. He may reveal a calling
in your life that you never expected before to
happen. He might lead you to get a different
job. He might call you to serve somewhere in
our community of faith, like the nursery. He
may lead you to go to a different city. He may
call you to serve a group of people that are
very different than you. Don't look the same.
Don't act the same. Have nothing in common with
them, but you're called to serve them. He may
move you to break up with the person you're in
a relationship with right now because it's not
God's best. And I don't know what it could be,
but I do know when you make yourself available
to hear God's voice and pray dangerous prayers,
he'll radically change your life. Now all throughout
the Bible, from the old to the new, you're going
to see that God calls people. And it doesn't
mean that he literally calls their phone. It
means he speaks to people. He prompts them. He
moves them. He gives them pictures. He leads
them to say something, to do something, to go
somewhere, to encourage someone to speak truth.
God will call those who know him to do something
he wants done. We are his vessels. Now, there's
several different responses to God's call, and
I want to discuss four of them this morning.
And the first response is this. We hear it from
Samuel. Here I am. What is it? 1 Samuel 3, verses
4 through 5. Suddenly, the Lord called out, Samuel,
yes! Samuel replied, what is it? And notice,
he got up and ran to Eli, who was his mentor.
Here I am, Eli. Did you call me? I didn't call
you, Eli replied. Go back to bed. So he did.
So scholars believe that Samuel is probably around
12 to 14 years old when God began speaking to
him. And notice, Samuel did not know God's voice.
He thought it was Eli's voice. And what does
that mean to us? Fast forward to today, we live
in a noisy culture, true or false. Whether it's
the big game on the TV. And all the advertisements
in between, our cell phones, music in the background,
or even billboards on the side of the road were
constantly bombarded with voices and distracted.
And every one of those voices is telling us to
do something, eat something, go somewhere, be
somebody. And if we want to hear from God and
do what he says, we must first put ourselves
in the right surroundings. The main reason we
don't hear God's voice clearly or know his voice
It's not because he's not speaking, because he
speaks to us every single day. It's because we're
distracted or we're not listening. Or we're too
busy. And that's why it's so important to put
ourselves in the right surroundings to hear God
and listen. And it's not just about the right
time and place, it's about our relationships
as well. I firmly believe and I challenge you
every single Sunday to give time to God every
single day. To have daily devotions. To put your
phones on hold or silence or whatever it may
be. To get an devotional plan where you're reading
through the Bible. And to daily pray and communicate
to God all the time throughout your day. You
say, what does it mean to pray to God? Talk to
him. Share your heart with him. Jeremiah 29,
13 says, you will seek me and find me when you
seek me with your whole heart. And listen, if
you're distracted, you're not going to seek God
with your whole heart. But we also need to do
life together. It's not just about our devotions.
We need to invest in each other so that we can
pray for and encourage one another to recognize
the voice of God. This past Friday morning, if
you would like to join us for the next two weeks,
6 a .m. prayer here every morning. I led that
morning prayer. My focus, prayer focus, was on
worship. So we listened to our worship song,
and then we walked through the auditorium and
prayed. We listened to another worship song and
we walked through every seat and prayed over
every seat and every stage and every worship
team member and tech team member. We prayed over
them all. Then we listened to another song. And
then had everybody sit in the hot seat. And we
broke into groups of four and we prayed for each
person. Laid hands on. And you say, well, Chris,
why'd you do that? I thought you were praying
for worship. Well, I saved time at the end, 15
minutes where we prayed for one another because
we need to hear from one another and God uses
us to speak through us. We need to be in community.
If you're not connected in community, you're
missing an opportunity to hear God's voice. Which
leads us to our second response. Good old Jonah.
Here I am. I'm not going. Jonah chapter 1 verses
2 through 3. Get up and go to the great city
of Nineveh. Announced my judgment against it
because I have seen how wicked its people are.
But Jonah, good old Jonah, got up and went in
the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.
What did Jonah do? Jonah ran away from God. He
said, here I am, God. No way, I'm not gone. And
we all laugh. And we all point fingers at Jonah.
And we think, how could he do that? But I wonder
how many of us have had similar experiences.
You feel prompted to do something. Hey, I'm supposed
to reach out. I'm supposed to encourage and pray
for the person sitting beside me. But I don't.
Here I am, God. Oh, I'm too busy. Sorry. I'm
not doing it. I can almost guarantee that all
of you that are in a relationship with Jesus
had times this week, just this past week, that
God prompted you to do something. Maybe you were
convicted of a sin that you know is wrong. The
Holy Spirit was speaking to you, challenging
you, saying, Chris, say no, say no. But the temptation
was too much, and you chose to indulge. You know
what that is? Here I am, God. Oh, I'm not listening.
Maybe you were called to give a $5 McDonald's
gift card to the guy standing at the street holding
a sign, I'm homeless. And you wonder, and you
pray for him or her. And God prompts you, give
them a gift card so they can have some food.
And you just drive right by. Maybe God brought
a friend or family member to mind. You were supposed
to simply reach out, text them, call. And you
got distracted and forgot. Maybe there's a co
-worker or classmate that needed a high five
and a smile. But you were running late and you
missed the opportunity. Maybe, just maybe, God
wanted many of you to attend our 6 a .m. prayer
gatherings with our community of faith, but guess
what? You're too insecure believing that you
can't pray in front of people so you don't show
up. You know what that is? That's, hey God, here
I am, but I'm not doing it. And we point fingers
at Jonah and we make fun of Jonah when in reality
we're just like him. Which leads us to our third
response. Good old Moses. Here I am. Send someone
else. Exodus 3, 10 through 11. Now go, for I
am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people,
Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses protested to
God. Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am
I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?
This is a call that Moses agreed needed to happen.
He knew his people had to be freed from the slavery
in Egypt. But instead of saying, sure, God, I'll
go, what's he say? Send someone else. I'm not
good enough. Who am I? I'm not talented enough.
Who am I? Someone would be a better person to
speak and share your truth. Send someone else,
God, Exodus 4, 10 through 13. But Moses pleaded
with the Lord. Oh, Lord, I'm not very good with
words. I never have been, and I'm not now. Even
though you have spoken to me, I get tongue -tied
and my words get tangled. And look, Moses shares
his concerns. God speaks back. Who makes a person's
mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do
not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not
see? Is it not me? Is it not I, the Lord? Now
go. I'll be with you as you speak, and I'll instruct
you in what you have to say. Now, I don't know
about you, but if I heard God speaking those
words to me, I'd be like, let's go. Not Moses.
Moses again pleaded. Lord, please send anyone
else. And it's so easy for us to respond this
way to God, especially in the American church,
unfortunately, especially in the large church.
You know, we're considered a large church now.
We have to add extra chairs on Sunday morning.
And so many people, when they show up to our
community of faith, they think, oh, well, this
church, they got it all together. They don't
need me. I don't need to give. Let that person
give. They got more money than me. I don't have
any money. Dare I say that's a lie? That's the
enemy lying to you? Because everyone in a relationship
with Jesus is called to give, and it's not about
the money. I don't talk about money that much.
Many of you know that. And it's not about the
money. I don't challenge you to give to our community
of faith for the money. I challenge you to give
for your heart. Jesus connects our money and
how we spend it to our heart. And he says, hey,
church, it's a heart issue. If you're not willing
to give, if you're not willing to tithe, it's
a heart issue. You're not fully surrendered to
me. Or I hear, oh, Chris, I just don't have time
to serve. I'm too busy. You mean I have to arrive
30 minutes early to hold the door and welcome
someone and smile? Oh, I have to show up 45 minutes
early to make coffee and serve coffee? Wait a
minute. You mean I got to come to the kids and
teach them and then come to another gathering?
Wow, Chris, I work all week. Hey, church, so
do I. I work all week. I work a lot of hours
in a week. But guess what? I show up. Because
God's called me to show up. And God's called
you to show up. And I'm tired of the excuses.
We all have excuses. You know, I have to fix
my refrigerator. My fence is broken right now.
My fence. And I was going to fix it yesterday,
but what did it do? It rained all day. I wasn't
going to go out in the rain because many of you
know if I go in the rain, I'll melt. I didn't
want to go in the rain. So my fence is still
falling over, waiting to be fixed on Monday when
it's sunny. Okay, but the point is, I did not
show up today. I did not serve today because,
oh, I got to get to my fence. I got to do this.
I got to do that at home. I have all these chores.
Oh, wait a minute. I got to go relax. I got to
ride my bike. I got to go on my four wheel. All
good things. But when they get in the way of
your relationship with God, they're bad. It's
a sin. Call it what it is. Because if you're
not serving, who's going to? Here I am, God.
Send someone else. Which leads us to our final
response. Go to Isaiah. Here I am. Send me. Then
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall
I send and who will go for us? Here I am. Send
me. And notice, when Isaiah prayed this prayer,
he did not say this. Where are you sending me?
Is the weather nice? What about the cost of living?
Pay range? I need a new job. Are there benefits?
Wait, do I get vacation time? Like he didn't
ask any of that. What did he do? He simply said,
God, here I am. I'll say it together. Send me.
Send me. So he said, send me. He was obedient.
And I want to encourage you this week. I believe
that God wants this to become a daily part of
our prayer life. As soon as you wake up, right,
you begin to pray. God. Give me my, give my mind
to you. I give my mind to you. May my thoughts
be like your thoughts. God, I give my eyes to
you. May I look at people as you see them, not
lust after them. I give my mouth to you. May
I speak words of life. May I read your truth
and live it. Not just read it and then go do
something else. Here are my feet, send me. Here
are my hands, use me. Essentially, God, here
I am, send me. And I want to dare you. I want
to challenge you this week, motivate you to pray
a prayer like that. Hey, God, I'm available.
You have permission to interrupt me. You have
permission, God, to change my schedule. If you
want me to say, I'll say. If you want me to speak,
I'll speak. If you want me to shut up and be
quiet, I'll listen. I want to give it away, God.
I want to serve you. I want to use my time to
follow you and point other people to you. Here
I am. God, send me. And listen, it's an incredibly
dangerous prayer. Because when you start praying
like that, I guarantee you, you know what's going
to happen? God's going to interrupt you. God's
going to change your schedule. God's going to
highlight an area of your life you need to change
and get rid of it. God's going to point out a
sin. God's going to invite you to retire early
and get into ministry. Here I am, God. Send me.
And some of you are thinking, okay, Chris, let's
see it. I want to be bold this week. How do I
get there? Three simple steps that we learn from
Isaiah to surrender our lives to God. And the
first is this. We need to experience the presence
of God. Isaiah 6 .1, it was the year of King
Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting
on a lofty throne and the train of his robe filled
the temple. What happened here? Remember, Isaiah
was a young man. He was not yet a prophet. This
was his calling into the ministry. And what did
he do? He saw Jesus in all of his glory. Last
week, I shared about the Bible teaching about
angelic beings named Seraphim. The only time
they appear in the Bible. And what were they
doing? They were worshiping. They were praising.
They were singing to God. Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord God Almighty. And there's something
powerful when people gather and sing. I was in
the worship room for the last song, and just
hearing your voices sing out to God brought me
to tears. And that's what these angelic beings
were doing. And when Isaiah saw the presence
of God, that's the presence of God, church, when
he experienced the glory of God, it transformed
who he was. Why is it that you may not make yourself
available to God? Well, perhaps it's because
you haven't recently experienced his presence.
You haven't made time for his presence. Or for
some of you, you're in a relationship with God.
You've never experienced the presence of God.
Listen, I've been pastoring this church for nearly
20 years now. It'll be 20 years this Easter.
And many of you have commented on our weekend
of rest that we shared a few weeks ago. Jess
and I made a video sharing the story of HTV and
everything. we've been through, the places we've
been, and I've heard from many of you saying
you appreciated the honesty and the transparency
of the story of HTV. You commented on how awesome
it was to see Phoenix wipe tears from my wife's
face as she shared her heart and was vulnerable.
But can I be brutally honest with you? It's been
a very difficult journey to get here. Everybody
sees our community of faith and praises it and
talks about the explosion and everything that
God's doing and 55 people baptized. But in 20
years, there's been many ups and downs. There's
been a lot of tears shed. There's been seasons
where I didn't think I was going to make it.
Whether it be anxiety, heartbreak, personal attacks
on me personally, my family, my character, on
my physical body, on my family's physical body.
Each and every time those attacks or that stress
or that heartache happened, I had to back away
and renew my connection with God. I had to escape.
I had to get in my car and drive and just listen.
I had to work out extra hard because that's where
I hear from God. See, the presence of God brought
me to a deeper place of real submission. Made
me realize, Chris, it's all worth it. Lives are
being changed for eternity. God, I've been with
you, and I'm your servant. Anything you want,
I will do. And many of you know from the testimony
of that video, we do it. I mean, just this past
year, I'm going to bring this up gently, because
next year it's probably going to happen again.
So I played the video, and then that same day
I get a call. Chris! What are the chances of
doing a polar bear baptism tomorrow? I'm like,
oh, man. So New Year's Day, I was in the Potomac
River. Baptizing somebody. God bless you, John.
And it was cold. But the point is, it was all
because of what God wanted to do. Now some of
you may say, that's never really happened to
me before, Chris. And I want to tell you right
now, it can happen to you today. 1 Corinthians
3 .16, don't you realize that all of you together
are a temple of God and the Spirit of God lives
in you? Friends, you don't have to be in the
middle of a crisis to experience the presence
of God. That verse right there tells us that
if you're in a relationship with Jesus, right,
the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. There is
no more... Old Testament temple where the presence
of God rests. That has now been shifted. The
New Testament temple is you and me. So we literally
have the very presence of God. And you say, well,
Chris, what is that? Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Does everybody remember Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Throwback, right? Remember that ark? Everyone
remember the ark and the destruction and the
power? Where does that live now? In you. In you.
Not that you're going to go out and destroy someone,
but that you release God's power in you and through
you. And listen, experiencing the presence of
God doesn't happen here on Sunday mornings. You
could be driving in your car, listening to a
worship song, and suddenly the presence of God
comes over you. You start weeping, and you realize
God is in my car. You could be praying for your
five -year -old son in his bedroom. praying a
prayer of blessing over his life as he goes to
sleep and realize the presence of God is in this
bedroom. And you begin weeping and sobbing. See,
when you invite the Holy Spirit to come alive
inside of you, it can happen at any point, in
any place, no matter what is happening. And guess
what? No one has to push you over. So maybe you're
not able to pray a dangerous prayer because you
haven't experienced the presence of God yet.
Because when you experience the presence of God,
not just do you experience him, but you get full
of joy, Psalm 16. You will show me the way of
life, granting me the joy of your presence and
the pleasures of living with you forever. See,
unfortunately, in the church world, some people
are afraid of the Holy Spirit because of past
experiences or rumors or churches that you've
been in or whatever it may be. There's nothing
to be afraid of. It's the very living presence
of God that just speaks to your heart and allows
you to change. But when the presence of God comes,
number two, you have awareness of your sinfulness.
See, currently one of the biggest cultural lies
that people believe today is, I'm a good person.
You're a good person. She's a good person. We're
good people. Look all over social media. Can
I be brutally honest with you? Without Jesus,
I'm not a good person. In fact, without Jesus,
I'm pathetic. We're not good people. In fact,
without Jesus, we're pathetic sinners. And in
the eyes of God, who is holy, remember, holy,
holy, holy, God can't relate to sin and brokenness.
Right? And I know from experience, 23 years of
experience, Before Jesus, I was a horrible person.
I was selfish, mean, rude, disrespectful, angry,
upset, addicted, anything to take away the pain.
I wasted a quarter of my life being a horrible,
sinful, pathetic individual. Welcome to HTV,
where I build you up and encourage you to get
closer to God. Friends, that's the truth. Our
natural sin nature is self. We're consumed with
ourselves and selfishness. And when we're consumed
with selfishness, it leads us to making bad choices.
Right? I just started my fourth year journey
through the Bible. I've already completed three
straight years of reading through the entire
Bible. I'm on my fourth year. And man, I'm in
Jacob right now. I tell you what. You want to
realize how pathetic. People are, just read about
Jacob. I mean, he lied, cheated, stole, manipulated,
got in a wrestling match with God and lost. I
mean, he's pathetic. But yet God used him and
his family to what? He was the line that Jesus
was born into. And see, it was when Isaiah saw
the goodness of God, he realized his negativity
and sin. Isaiah 6, 5. Then I said, it's all over.
I am doomed for I am a sinful man. I have filthy
lips and I live among a people with filthy lips.
Yet I've seen the King, the Lord of heaven's
armies. Now, other versions, I took other versions,
NIV, message, and I compiled them all. Listen
to this. Other versions read like this. I'm done.
I'm nothing. I'm pathetic. I'm a sinner. I have
nothing to offer. He's holy, I'm not. He's righteous,
I'm unrighteous. He's full of glory, I'm full
of sin. Woe to me, I'm ruined, for I'm a man
with unclean lips, and I live among a people
of unclean lips, which we know is true, and my
eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. See,
what does it take to get to a place of fully
surrendering to God and saying, here I am, send
me? It takes a genuine experience with his presence,
and it takes a genuine awareness that we are
sinful people. Now, if you're in a relationship
with Jesus, listen, I'll declare over you, you're
a son and daughter of God. You don't have to
continue to be a sinful person. It's a choice
now. James writes it this way in chapter 4, verse
8. Come close to God, and God will come close
to you. But when he comes close to you, notice,
wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts,
for your loyalty is divided between God and the
world. Which leads us to our final step. We have
to understand God's grace. And when you understand
just how amazing the grace of God is, it brings
you to a point of fully surrendering. Isaiah
6, 6 or 7. Then one of the seraphim flew to me
with a burning coal he had taken from the altar
with a pair of tongues. He touched my lips and
said, this coal has touched your lips. Now your
guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven.
With one touch. From the goodness of God, from
the presence of God, his sins were forgiven.
He was completely restored. Imagine this, church.
Your lying lips, forgiven. Your lustful attitudes,
forgiven. Your self -centered thoughts, forgiven.
Your angry outbursts, forgiven. Your secret sin
that nobody knows about, but God does. Forgiven.
As if they had never happened, Psalm 103. He
does not punish us. See, when we confess our
sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive
us of all sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.
We don't bring anything, church. Jesus did everything.
And when we sense God's presence, when we're
aware of our sinfulness, and we experience the
undeserved grace of God, the only reasonable
response is Isaiah 6, 8. Here I am, God. Send
me. One of the most dangerous prayers you can
pray. God, I'm all yours. Anywhere. Anytime.
Anyplace. For. And listen, this isn't a begrudgingly,
oh man, I gave my life to Jesus, now I gotta
serve God. No, it's, I'm in love with Jesus.
I wanna give him everything. And it's not a one
-time prayer that you prayed in 2002 and got
baptized in 2004. See, church, it's a daily prayer
of saying, God, here I am, send me. But you must
realize when we pray those prayers, there's a
war inside of our bodies. The Bible calls it
the flesh. And it's not your skin. It's your
selfish desires in your heart. And you have the
selfish desires in your heart and you have the
spirit side. And they're at war with one another.
And when the flesh wins, and you say, well, what
does it mean the flesh wins? Give me, give me,
give me. I need to consume. I need more. I need
new. I need this. I need that. Give me, give
me, give me. The flesh one. I'm not going to
do that, God. My life's too important. I'm not
going to do that, God. I'm busy. Somebody else
can do it. Anybody but me. I can't talk. I don't
know the Bible. Excuse after excuse after excuse.
Instead, Instead of making an excuse, you deny
yourself. Paul writes it this way. My old self
has been crucified with Christ. It's no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I
live in this earthly body by trusting the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
And when we battle with the Spirit against the
flesh and we crucify it, that we become a church
that says, yes, God, send us. Yes, God. Send
us. But unfortunately, so many people are afraid
to pray that dangerous prayer. Break me, God.
Search me. Change me. Send me. Use me. They're
all dangerous prayers. And so many people are
afraid to pray those prayers because they think
if they pray those prayers, God's going to send
them somewhere to Africa to use a toilet that
they'll never use like they have here in the
United States. And here's the reality. Yes, that
may happen because I have a son that's doing
it right now. But chances are, you know what
God wants to do with you? He wants you to be
a good dad and a good mom to your kids. He wants
you to make time for them and coach them and
pray for them and love them and lift them up
and serve them because you're the example of
Jesus to them. And you know what he wants you
to do? He wants you to love your wife and to
love your spouse. And he wants you to go into
your workplace and treat it like it's Africa.
And find people that are hurting and broken and
in need and you become Jesus to them. That's
what he's calling you to do. And we're afraid
to pray dangerous prayers because we think we're
not good enough. And I'm here to declare over
you, all of you, it doesn't matter if you're
in a relationship with Jesus or not, you're good
enough. Because when the love of God comes over
you and you experience the Holy Spirit, you'll
be transformed into a new person, a new creation,
and you'll never go back to those old ways because
you want to be used and empowered by God. Will
you stand with me? Now remember what I said.
Listen. Today's special. This is a foundational
day for some of you. We're not even near being
done, so don't pack your stuff up. Put it under
your chair. Hide it. Throw your keys out the
window. We're going to pray a simple prayer like
we always do because I believe God brings people
into our church, into our midst, into our gatherings
that are distant, far from God, have walked away
from God, have never been in a relationship with
Him. And we don't single you out. We all pray
it together. Amen? So if that's you, I invite
you to pray that with me right now. Jesus, I'm
broken. I'm full of doubt, shame, regret, sin.
Change me. Forgive me. I believe you're God's
son. I believe you died for me. Make me new.
Set me free. Fill me with your spirit, God. Help
me, God, to serve others. In Jesus' name, amen.
So if you prayed that prayer for the first time,
listen, welcome to the family. See us, text me,
do something so I can get you baptized, so I
can get you started on this journey. We love
you. Welcome, welcome. Come back every single
week. But now, like I said, for some of you,
this is a foundational moment in your relationship
with Jesus. As I was praying for all of you this
week, I felt like God wanted to release his presence
into your life that some of you have never experienced
the tangible presence of God. You're afraid of
it. You're intimidated by it. It's kind of unknown.
You're not really sure what to do about it. Listen,
that's your lifeline. That's your source. And
I believe God wants to bring it alive inside
of you this morning. But listen, it takes a step
of faith. So I'm going to open up the front.
You heard the... The words of knowledge, if any
of those are you, this is your time. But for
the rest of you, the worship team is going to
lead us in worship. But if you want to experience
the tangible presence of God, or you need a refilling
or a refreshing, I'm going to invite you to come
right now. Just come up front. Come Holy Spirit.
Come on. Come on. Come on. Come Holy Spirit.
That's it. Plenty of room. Plenty of room. Now
listen, for the rest of us, we're going to worship.
And as you worship, God may convict you of something
you need to get up here. God may reveal something
to you you need to get up here. Doesn't mean
that just because you didn't come forward now
doesn't mean you won't. It means be open to what
God wants to do for you. Amen? Let's sing together.
for life for mine if the warrants turn water
into wine please fix my heart things inside